nhl

The New York Rangers and Carolina’s Ridiculous Playoff Proposal

by
New York Rangers, Brady Skjei

The New York Rangers were experiencing the feeling that many college basketball teams usually experience in March. That is, they were on the bubble as to whether the Blueshirts would be included or not if the NHL decided to return to playing, which of course they did. However, what is known was that throughout the entire process, the more than likely first-round opponent was vehemently against the 24 team format. The Carolina Hurricanes were one of only two teams who voted against the now scheduled format.

Carolina’s objections and proposal

Publically, the Hurricanes had this to say for voting no: player rep Jordan Martinook and his teammates disagreed with the proposal because they felt this created a format that made their road even tougher. “It just kind of limits our odds and makes you play another playoff series, basically. It wasn’t just for our team’s situation,” Martinook told reporters back in May. “You look at teams that had a 10 percent chance to make it, and now they’re pretty much on a 50-50 playing field.”

Martinook acknowledged that the ideal return to play format would be to finish the regular season, but time was of the essence and the Hurricanes will be ready to play. Finishing the regular season was rejected, mostly for the idea that having teams like the Detroit Red Wings and others who had no shot at the playoffs would needlessly put their players and staff at risk.

This is what the Hurricanes publically said. Later on it came out, via Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.ca, that the Hurricanes wanted the Rangers to win four games in their best of five series in order to advance. In a move that sounds like it comes from the playground sports bully, the Rangers could be up 3-1 going into the final game, only to lose game five, but they would not advance because they did not win the required four games. This in spite of the fact that the Rangers would have won the series 3-2.

Besides being fair to those teams like the Rangers who still had a chance to make the playoffs, the appeal for the league’s 24 team format is to have more fan bases involved and create more excitement. Which is exactly what the NHL is getting by including the Rangers, Canadiens and Blackhawks, three Original Six teams.

There were other proposals that were rejected that would have helped the Rangers

First of all, the idea of a 16 or 20 team playoff was not initially considered to eliminate the Rangers, but to exclude teams like the Canadiens and Blackhawks, teams who had less than a 10% chance of making the Western Conference playoffs. But in the end, the idea that teams who had a decent shot to earn a spot should not be eliminated.

The idea that could have benefited the Rangers the most was the round-robin proposal to determine the top 16 teams. In this proposal, the top six teams in each division would play in this format. As the Rangers finished seventh but had a much higher points percentage than the Buffalo Sabres, they would have been placed in the Atlantic Division. The NHL liked this idea because it would guarantee that regional media markets would have had at least five games to broadcast. In the end, the top teams were not in favor of this, feeling that it did not give them enough of an advantage for finishing high in the standings. The league was also somewhat fearful that too many top-seeded teams could be eliminated in this format. Point systems to try to address these issues became too complicated, and the round-robin was scrapped.

Realistically, it would not have been far fetched to see a healthy Rangers team go 4-1 in this format, no matter what division they were placed in.

In the end, the NHL and NHLPA did the best they could to come up with a format that was fair to as many teams as possible, while giving players and fans a chance to gain some closure on this unusual season.

 

 

New York Rangers can begin voluntary workouts on June 8

by
New York Rangers, Chris Kreider

New York Rangers players will be allowed to have voluntary workouts at their team facility beginning Monday, June 8 with the NHL’s announcement that they will transition into Phase 2.  NHL players have been kept off the ice and in quarantine since the league issued a pause in the regular season on Mar.12.

Clubs will be permitted to reopen their training facilities in their home city to allow players to participate in individualized training activities both on and off the ice.

Per the NHL’s Return To Play guidelines, players will be able to work out in small groups, a maximum of six players at any one time, plus a limited number of team staff. The limited amount of players scheduled to workout is to help keep players safe and healthy.

On Mar. 24, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo authorized professional sports teams to start training in the state immediately. The Rangers and the NHL were not ready to start any workouts at that time.

The Blueshirts training facility is located in Tarrytown, NY. The organization has not made any statements regarding the start of Phase 2 but is expected to be open when players are ready to begin workouts. These voluntary workouts are not considered a training camp.

Players such as Mika Zibanejad, Kaapo Kakko, and Henrik Lundqvist who are currently overseas are not required to report to New York during Phase 2, but in order for then to return for training camp (Phase 3), they will have to stay in quarantine for 14 days upon their arrival to the United States.

The NHL is not anticipated to begin Phase 3 any earlier than July 10.

.

New York Rangers will need 19 wins to hoist the Stanley Cup

by
New York Rangers

The New York Rangers road to the Stanley Cup will be one of the hardest to achieve in its rich history.

The National Hockey League announced the playoff format should the time come that teams can get back on the ice. It appears the New York Rangers, who will play in a best of five qualifying round, will need to win a total of 19 games to hoist there first Stankey Cup since 1994.

The New York Rangers organization now sees what is in their way of pursuing their first Stanley Cup in 26 years.

The NHL and NHLPA have been working out the details for the playoffs over the last two weeks. The two sides have been on the same page throughout the process and worked out the following details announced on Thursday afternoon.

  •  There will be a Qualifying Round consisting of a best-of-five series.  Following that series, all rounds will be a best-of-seven format.
  • Seeding Format- In each round, the highest remaining seed in each conference will face the lowest seed, the second-highest seed will face. the second-lowest seed on so on.
  • The Round Robin tiebreaker will be broken by the regular-season points percentage. The seeding order for these teams will remain the same throughout the playoffs.

If you add up the wins needed to advance to the next round, which is now at five rounds for the qualifying clubs, 19 is the magic number. The Rangers will have their work cut out for them with this format.

The scarier number is the number of games that might be needed to reach their championship goals. Should the Blueshirts need all five games of the qualifying round and every game of the next four rounds, the Rangers could potentially play in 33 more games this year.

The Rangers may need to use all three of their goalies at one time or another to get the job done.

 

New York Rangers: Artemi Panarin will carry team on his shoulders

by

The New York Rangers signed Artemi Panarin last summer for his scoring skill and playmaking ability. When the NHL resumes games sometime in July, the organization is hoping he can do one more thing, carry the Blueshirts deep into the playoffs.

Panarin had an incredible first seaosn in New York. He led the team with 95 points finding the back of the net 32 times in 69 games. The 28-year-old has done everything the organization has asked as he had the best season in his five years in the NHL recording career-high in both goals and points.

This will be Panarin’s fifth trip to the postseason.  The high-scoring Russian scorer has struggled with putting the puck in the net in postseason games as he has played in 27 Stanley Cup Playoff games managing only nine goals.

What is more surprising, Panarin has only seen the second round once in his four previous playoff trips. In his final season with Columbus last season, the Blue Jackets upset the Tampa Bay Lightning in a four-game sweep before being eliminated by the Boston Bruins in six games.

This season the Rangers will be playing in their first postseason since 2017 with a team that had little aspirations of even talking about the postseason in October never mind getting their first opportunity to play in these important games now.

Defense

What so many fans fail to see is just how good Panarin is on defense. Head coach David Quinn broke down his game on the “Film Room” youtube video.

Panarin is a smart player on defense.  He is great at backchecking, putting pressure on the opposition as they enter the Ranger’s defensive zone.  “What makes him so good offensively is his commitment to defense”, said Quinn in the video. The coach appreciated his poise with the puck in his own end which more time than not turns into an offensive scoring chance. He dominates the “50/50 puck battles” which the head coach feels is crucial in puck possession.

Defense coverage is crucial in coach Quinns system, he has set plays in each of the zones on the ice, but he admits to giving Panarin a little more leeway because of his skillset and great on ice knowledge with what is going on around him.

Hard Part Is Yet To Come

Now is the time where Panarin will feel the most pressure. He was a rookie the first time he made the playoffs with Chicago and last season he knew would be his last with Columbus. This is New York, one of the biggest markets in the country, one where Panarin has never had to handle the media like he will when the game resumes.

Panarin is going to be expected to be better than he was in the regular season. That’s a tough thing to ask considering he, along with the entire NHL, will be starting over due to the prolonged break that was a result of the pause in the regular season.

The team leader on the ice is going to have to put his foot now quickly and find his scoring touch. The qualifying rounds are the best- of -five so there will not be a “feeling out” period.

The native of Korkino, USSR is a pure goal scorer and incredible skater who can handle the full load of the team on his shoulder and find ways to win hockey games. He will have to because, at the end of the day, this is why he is getting paid all of that money.

Team Leader

Panarin is no longer the new kid on the block. He is the guy the kids all look up to and respect. His contagious smile, no-quit attitude has been passed on to everyone in the locker room and on the bench. The Breadman will lead the club, along with Mika Zibanejad, to give the Rangers a scary one-two pinch against any team that comes there way.

Ryan Strome has been a benefactor of playing alongside Panarin. Strome scored 18 goals this season ( one shy of his career-high) along with a career-high in points (59) with him appearing on all 70 regular-season games this year.

The Carolina Hurricanes will be the next team Panarin and the Rangers face whenever the NHL gets back to games. That is something that will not change no matter how much the ‘Canes complain about the 24-team format.

Panarin needs to find his scoring touch the moment the puck is dropped. The moment he steps back on to the ice in whatever city that may be. Whenever that time comes, Rangerstown will be living every faceoff, every period and every game played through the eyes of Panarin.

There is something magical whenever fans talk about Rangers playoff hockey. Panarin is going to get to feel that energy soon, and knowing how committed he is to win, the Blueshirts will get to experience the end of a different but quite special season.

Who is the man behind the Islanders’ Belmont Arena Account?

by
3d rendered image of belmont park

Construction for the New York Islanders new arena at Belmont Park has resumed, and for one person in particular the resumption has a little more meaning.

That person is Jonathan Aigen.

You might be asking, who is Aigen? He works for a financial services firm in the city and does freelance work running the North Shore Animal League’s Twitter account. More importantly, he’s the brains behind the @NYIBelmontArena Twitter account, which is the team’s unofficial page showing all the progress on the arena since November of last year.

A kid from Port Washington, Aigen has been an Islanders fan since birth. He got his fandom from his father, who grew up on Long Island and was an original fan from when the franchise was born in 1972. In the glory years, Aigen’s grandfather and his firm had season tickets, so his dad was there to witness the dynasty.

He’s taken that fandom past down and turned it into one of the most popular accounts on Isles Twitter.

“Growing up an Islanders fan we always thought the worst thinking they could move to KC or Quebec City,” the 24-year-old  said over a series of text messages. “After realizing how painful Brooklyn was between the commute and the actual arena itself, once the idea of Belmont came to fruition my friends and I were all extremely excited.”

The Isles had broke ground at Belmont Park in September, but it wasn’t until around Thanksgiving when the idea of an account first came to the surface for Aigen.

“So my buddies and I have a group chat ‘Reasoner2Nino’ (all Islanders talk) and once they put up the live cam I began to post a picture everyday in the group chat,” he recalled. “I began to save every picture and put in a file. After a few months I decided to just make a twitter account because I felt as though more than just the five of us were excited about the new home.”

Aigen was right. The excitement of the franchise and the fans finally getting the building they’ve been dreaming about was at an all-time high. And on Thanksgiving morning, the account was active.

Once that first post went out, the account blew up. Aigen was just as shocked by the positive reaction.

“Um I didn’t really know what to expect,” he said. “The first post blew up with hundreds of likes tons of retweets. The followers kept coming. Being part of isles twitter for years I can understand why now Isles Twitter is great and extremely active. But the support has been awesome.”

The arena’s account has amassed over close to 2,200 followers and it ranges from fans to the likes of the beat writers, fan blogs, and even the Isles’ AHL club, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Still, Aigen finds it awesome some of the interactions he’s had running the account.

”Alan Hahn, Eric Hornick, Brian Compton and Andrew gross have been supportive and we’ve had interactions which have been really cool,” he noted. “It’s always fun to see a tweet that I am tagged in from them!”

As for the actual team, who do have their own live came on its official website, the response has been favorable to Aigen’s account.

“From ownership down, everybody has been beyond excited about Belmont and the fans couldn’t be more appreciative.”

When the coronavirus hit, Aigen wasn’t sure how the account would continue on. On March 27th, the state has ruled that only essential businesses could stay open. Which meant, construction was going to be halted for the arena without a resumption date determined.

“At first it was hard,” he said. “I was trying different ways to share content and stay in touch with followers.”

But Aigen stayed on top of what was going on and eventually things began to turn.

“My family and I were always reading about when construction would reopen. Governor Cuomo has been doing a great job. (Islanders general manager) Lou Lamoriello’s update and the transparency from the team was also assuring as well.”

Last week that the construction was given the green light to restart, and once again, allowed Aigen and fellow Isles fans to continue to see the future is coming and that better days are ahead.

“Words won’t even describe how excited I will be, said Aigen. “The rendering look absolutely beautiful. Of course I’m a huge fan of the coliseum and it will be emotional seeing them leave. But the new building is just another chapter for the team that embodies Long Island.”

The Islanders are not set to open their new digs till the 2021-22 campaign, but Aigen knows how special a day that will be.

“The opening of the arena will really mean a great deal to the fan base. The second construction started, the dream of the team staying on Long Island really came to fruition. Once the puck drops for the ‘21-‘22 season it will be completely official. It will really tie all loose ends and help reiterate that this islanders are a first rate franchise and ownership and management has proved that over the past few years.”

So what happens when the building is complete? Aigen says he won’t change a thing.

“Of course I will continue the account!,” he said emphatically.

“I feel like I am part of the isles twitter community and can’t wait for what’s in-store at our new home.”

Make sure to follow Aigen at @NYIBelmontArena or his personal account @JPAigen

New York Rangers’ Brendan Lemieux faces suspension when Qualifying Rounds begin

by
New York Rangers, Brendan Lemieux

New York Rangers rugged forward Brendan Lemieux will be hit with a suspension once the NHL resumes games in late July or early August.

In what seems like years ago, Lemieux was called for a two-minute minor penalty for interference following the hit on Colorado Avalanche Joonas Donskoi on Mar. 12. The incident occurred with 2:52 remaining in the third period of the Rangers’ 3-2 overtime loss at Pepsi Center in the last game the team played before the Covid-19 pandemic shut everything down.

Donskoi did not return to the game.

The NHL Department Of Player Saftey had a hearing the following day and announced that Lemieux will be suspended but they would announce the number of games he will serve once the NHL had resumption of play guideline in place. The NHL anounced their Return to Play plan on Tuesday night, but at this time it remains unclear when the league will inform the team with the length of the suspension.

This was Lemieux’s second encounter with DOPS. He was fined $2,000 for elbowing Vegas Golden Knights forward Cody Glass on Dec. 9.

The Rangers will face the Carolina Hurricanes in a best-of-five Qualifying Round once the league decides to resume hockey activities. Lemieux’s aggressive style, along with his strong skating and willingness to stand up for his teammates will certainly be missed in the early games of the short series.

Lemieux appeared in 59 games this season netting six goals and 18 points.  He leads the team in penalty minutes raking up 111.

Examining Potential Hub Cities for New York Rangers Playoff Games

by
New York Rangers

With the announcement that the New York Rangers have qualified for the NHL’s post-season, the only thing that everyone is waiting for is: where will the Blueshirts play these games? On Tuesday, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman listed the 10 cities currently under consideration to host games: seven in the United States (Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St. Paul, and Pittsburgh), and three in Canada (Edmonton, Toronto, and Vancouver).

The listing by countries is intentional. NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly says that in a perfect world, the league’s return-to-play plan would feature one hub city on either side of the U.S.-Canada border. Daly made these comments while appearing on Sportsnet 590 (Canada) The Fan’s Lead Off show. Daly mentioned that the city’s infrastructure as a primary consideration that will impact the safety of all involved.

On this topic, Daly stated that “the arena setup, and hotels around the arena, and secure transportation to and from the hotels to the arena — what does that look like? And is that a place where we can keep the players and the club staff and league staff all safe in a bubble-type environment.”

Since a decision on which two hub cities will be selected is expected to come in about three to four weeks, let’s take a look and see how these sites compare as future hubs cities for the New York Rangers

Las Vegas and Edmonton

Many experts have had these two cities listed as top choices for a while. Both cities easily check off on all the factors that Daly mentioned in his interview. Edmonton has gone out of their way to make arrangements so that the players can have some things to do during their off time, such as setting up secure golf courses and arrange big screens in outdoor areas for movies and video games. Las Vegas, of course, has the capacity to do the same and the NHL would have the city to themselves as it appears that the NBA will be heading to Orlando. However, Edmonton and the other Canadian cities have one issue: Canada’s mandatory 14-day quarantine.

During his interview, Daly mentioned that it will be difficult for the NHL to select a Canadian city because the 14-day quarantine for the teams traveling in would be kind of a non-starter to be able to play in 2020. But recently Alberta Province Premier Jason Kenney asked the Canadian government to exempt NHL players and personnel from the country’s travel protocol to facilitate Edmonton’s bid to be a hub city in the NHL’s potential return to play. In his letter, Kenney said that the Government of Alberta believes there are effective strategies in place to mitigate any risk for our province if such an exemption was granted.

Both Las Vegas and Edmonton have also had better COVID-19 numbers than many other areas in the two countries.

Columbus

Nationwide Arena, once the former home of current Ranger Artemi Panarin, would also make a nice destination for the Rangers. Besides being closer, the Rangers have played a few more games each year here versus Las Vegas or Edmonton. Also checking everything in the NHL’s list, the area surrounding Nationwide Arena, called the Arena District could serve as a quarantine type social hub. This area is a mixed-use neighborhood developed by Nationwide Realty Investors featuring restaurants, bars, offices, and residential buildings. It also features a more temperate climate than Las Vegas, as making sure proper ice conditions during summer months may be one drawback for playing in Vegas.

Minneapolis/St. Paul

The Wild’s Excel Center would also seem to have everything needed for the safety of the Ranger’s players and staff. Also having a more moderate temperature in the summer, it should be able to maintain it’s ice better than Las Vegas could. The arena is on the same block as the RiverCentre convention facility and other features that can assist the league and teams with maintaining their bubble.

Dallas and Pittsburgh

Both would be nice places and Pittsburgh does have a more familiar feel. Pittsburgh may get a bit of a nod as a place east of the Mississippi River if the NHL does not want to put both hubs out west. It is awfully hot in Dallas in the summer, maintaining proper ice might be an issue.

Toronto and Vancouver

Both cities would seem to be more of a back-up choice if something happens to Edmonton. Both cities would work well, and Toronto could be under consideration as the Eastern hub if the league wants to go east-west on their choices. Toronto would also be a more familiar location for the Rangers. Vancouver has some issues as its provincial health minister says they will not bend rules for sports.

Los Angeles and Chicago

These two cities may have more problems with their cities’ coronavirus pandemic situations than others mentioned in the United States. LA may be a wild-card though as with the Kings not participating in the playoffs, this would truly be a neutral site hub for the playoff rounds. Many teams in the west would not be especially happy about going to Chicago to face the Blackhawks in their home arena, regardless if they are just the #12 seed.

NHL concludes season, Rangers are in the playoffs

by
New York Rangers

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced the 2019-’20 regular season has officially concluded, the Stanley Cup Playoffs will consist of 24 teams with the New York Rangers getting a shot to play for the Stanley Cup.

The National Hockey League announced its Return to Play plan on Tuesday afternoon. The regular season has been officially declared completed and the league will jump right into the NHL Playoffs with a 24-team format to include the New York Rangers.

The Rangers were the hottest team in the league when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the NHL to pause the regular season on Mar. 12. The Blueshirts were two points away from a wild card spot with doubts if they would get an opportunity to complete the season or qualify for the postseason for the first time since 2017.

The tournament will begin with a 16-team, eight-series Qualifying Round, and a “Seeding Round Robin” among the top four teams in each conference to determine seeds for the first-round.

Bettman’s statement:

Commissioner Bettman was highlighted by the statement that the league is looking to award the Stanley Cup because the fans want to see a conclusion to the season.

“Let me assure you that the reason we are doing this because our fans have told us in overwhelming numbers that they want to complete the season if at all possible. And our players and our teams are clear that they want to play and bring the season to its rightful conclusion,” NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti reported.

The Qualifying Round and the Seeding Round robin will be held at two hub cities which have not been decided as of yet. One for the 12 Eastern Conference teams and one for the Western Conference teams. Locations being considered to include Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Edmonton, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Pittsburgh, Toronto, and Vancouver.

The Rangers to play Carolina

The top four teams in the Eastern Conference are the Boston Bruins (44-14-12, 100 points), Tampa Bay Lightning (43-21-6, 92 points), Washington Capitals (41-20-8, 90 points) and Philadelphia Flyers (41-21-7, 89 points).

The Rangers will play the Carolina Hurricanes in a best of five series. The other play-in games will be Pittsburgh Penguins vs. the Montreal Canadiens, the New York Islanders vs. the Florida Panthers and the Toronto Maple Leafs vs. the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Following the conclusion of the Qualifying Rounds, the conference based playoffs will continue in the same hub cities. It remains unclear if the first-round series will set through seeding or bracketing.

Games in the qualifying round will be played with playoff overtime rules. The round-robin games will be played with regular-season overtime and shootout rules with ties in the standings broken by regular-season points percentage.

What’s next?

Phase 2 is expected to begin in early June. The will allow clubs to return to home facilities for voluntary, small-group, on and off the ice training.

Phase 3- It would be a formal training camp that is not expected to occur before July 1. This is good news for the Blueshirts as some of the star players are currently overseas. Henrik Lundqvist, Kaapo Kakko, and Mika Zibanejad are a few players who returned home when the NHL pause was put in place.

These players would most likely have to be placed in a 14-quarantine when they arrive back in New York. The phase three-date allows these players along with all players in the league not currently in the United States time to come back home.

Time is of no issue with the leagues understanding that fans would not be allowed in the stands for the foreseeable future.

Bettman intends to play a full 2020-’21 season and is willing to wait until December or January 2021 before beginning the new season.

David Quinn has plenty to do

David Quinn can check one thing off his bucket list. He has made the playoffs in his second year behind the bench. Now comes the hard part.

Let’s address the elephant in the room right now. Will it be Henrik Lundqvist or Igor Shesterkin to start in goal for the play-in series. Hank is 25-5 against Carolina since 2011. Rookie Shesterkin was named the number one starter in February and won 10 of his first 12 games to start his NHL career.

Chris Kreider has fully recovered from his injury suffered right after the trade deadline. Quinn now has to get him back to where he was prior to the injury where he scored 24 goals. A playoff driven Kreider could cause the Hurricanes plenty of trouble in a five-game series.

Pavel Buchnevich was involved in a car accident along with Igor Shesterkin and though he wasn’t injured physically, he was pretty shaken up and never found his game right up until the pause. The Kreider, Mika Zibanejad, Buchnevich line has been one of the best over the last few years, the club needs Buch at his best.

The younglings will now get their moment to shine in a national way. Adam Fox, Ryan Lindgren, Filip Chytil, Brett Howden, Alexandar Georgiev, and Kaako Kappo will get a taste of playoff hockey for the first time. The game changes dramatically in playoff time, cant wait to see what these guys will bring to the table when it matters most.

Artemi Panarin and Zibanejad together on the same team in the playoffs. Not much else can be said about that. The scoring and plain out fun watching these two play will be worth the price of admission (if fans were allowed).

On a down note, whenever the playoffs begin Brendan Lemieux will be watching from the press box. Lemieux had a hearing with the NHL Player Safety Department after a hit Colorado Avalanches’ Joonas Donskoi. The NHL didn’t announce the result of the hearing, but it’s expected he will sit a few games when the league resumes.

Rangers playoff hockey back. Well its almost back, but when the league resumes games, the Blueshirts will be playing hockey and that’s what matters most in Rangerstown.

It’s Official: the NHL Includes the New York Rangers for Post-Season Play

by
New York Rangers, Brendan Lemieux

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman made an announcement on Tuesday afternoon regarding the return-to-play format. The format announcement includes the New York Rangers as part of the play-in round for the 24 team tournament.

In his announcement that was covered on several networks in the United States and Canada, Bettman stated the health and safety of the players and staff were the utmost of his concern. Bettman also stated that the season will not continue unless they have clearance from Civil and Medical authorities.

Bettman has stated the regular season is over, and 24 teams will compete in a tournament. As expected, the top 12 teams in each conference will play, and seeding based on points percentage. He also stated that the tournament will play in two hubs that will be named later. Bettman also noted that each team will be limited to 50 personnel, with a small number of team staff allowed in an event.

As expected, the top four teams will play for a first-round seeding, while the remaining eight teams will play a best-of- series to advance to the first round. Once the round-robin and playoffs are finished, the league will conduct the tournament in a traditional bracket format, with match-ups based on seeding. Bettman also said the length of round two is still being considered. He also stated that he expects the Stanley Cup will played in one of the hub cities.

The New York Rangers have officially been scheduled to play the Carolina Hurricanes.

Bettman also discussed the phase policies, noting that the phase 3 procedure that would allow formal training camps will not happen until July 1 at the earliest.

Bettman listed the Hub cities that are under consideration, and they include Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Edmonton, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Pittsburgh, Toronto, and Vancouver.

It was also announced that the NHL draft would take place after the season concludes. There had been some speculation that the league may try to hold the lottery and draft at the end of June. The NHL Draft Lottery will be on Friday, June 26. The numbers 1, 2, and 3 picks will be up for grabs. Fifteen teams, the seven who are no longer playing plus 8 more currently identified as Teams A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, will be in the lottery. The league will have the same lottery odds as prior years. This process is quite complicated and will be covered in detail in a later article.

 

 

Many Protocols Must Be in Place for the New York Rangers in Phase 2 of Return-to-Play

by
Brady Skjei, New York Rangers

The NHL’s return-to-sport protocol is a very detailed procedure that will be required of the New York Rangers just to get six players working out inside the rink together, never mind what’s still to come when the Blueshirts progress to training camps or actually start playing games again. The protocol distributed to the Rangers, other teams, and players early Monday leaves no detail uncovered and paints a scene unlike any that would typically play out in these facilities.

So let’s say you are Jericho NY native Adam Fox and you want to start training in the facility. The first thing that must happen before he even steps foot into the facility is to have a swab inserted roughly two inches into his nasal cavity. That test then is sent to a place that can do laboratory-based RT-PCR testing, which will be used to detect any active or recent infection with COVID-19 and will be administered 48 hours prior to even thinking about entering the facility.

That will get Fox into the door of the facility. So, Adam Fox would like to start skating. In order to do that, he must complete a pre-participation medical exam, which includes an EKG test and screening for pre-existing conditions.

Now, it’s time to hit the ice. At best, Fox may be able to skate with New Jersey native Tony DeAngelo, and their fellow defensemen as phase 2 only allow six players on the ice at a time. Without contact. That means that Brendan Lemieux will have to do some “practice fighting” somewhere else. Coaches, including those for skating and skills, will not be allowed.

What happens when they get hungry or thirsty? Players inside the facility can consume Single-use beverages or snacks such as power bars, but any meals prepared and packaged by the catering staff must be taken home before they are consumed.

Whatever group of Rangers practices together, the grouping must remain constant and essentially be assigned a rotating shift for when they are allowed in the facility. Where possible, the Rangers have been told to assign a different athletic trainer, strength and conditioning coach and equipment manager to each group.

So after their practice, Fox, DeAngelo, and the rest of the Rangers would like some post-practice treatment. Not happening. In Phase 2, the players will not be granted access to saunas, hot tubs, or steam rooms and are encouraged to shower at home whenever possible.

So, after all of the players have gone through the facility, the Rangers cleaning staff must get to work. The facility must be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected between each training session. That includes locker-room areas and circuit-based training equipment. Players are required to leave all workout gear inside the facility for cleaning. The cleaning staff could end up being the MVPs of the season.

While all of this is happening, head coach David Quinn will be getting texts that will read something like 98.6. 97.8, or 98.2. While it might be nice to say they are sending him slapshot speeds, they instead will be the recorded temperature checks. During this process, players will have to do at least two more tests each week, plus daily temperature and symptom checks, one done at home, and another from medical personnel upon arrival at the facility.

There could be serious consequences for the Rangers if they do not comply with the measures put in place by the league. The NHL has promised that there could be penalties that include fines, loss of draft choices, and ineligibility to participate in the resumption of play.

This certainly will be a different experience for the Rangers, who mostly haven’t been back inside team facilities since the season was paused on March 12.